In this issue: Microsoft charging genAI subscription fee/Dave Portnoy, pizza titan/Barbenheimer and the viral advertising industrial complex/DC Metro military ads/Google de-interneting work PCs/TikTok frowning on Ozempic vids/Twitter’s puzzling advertiser strategy/Alexa AI + Sesame Street and X/Twitter.
Hi. Welcome to Context Collapse, the world’s best comms newsletter. I’m Neal Ungerleider. I run Ungerleider Works and used to work as a reporter for Fast Company, write op-eds for the LA Times, and work as a senior copywriter for R/GA. This newsletter helps readers navigate the weird new world of media and gleefully ignores all the conventional wisdom about journalism, public relations, marketing, and advertising.
Welcome to an extra-special bonus edition of Context Collapse. I had a lot of links to share with readers, and a lot of them are relevant for work + getting pretty slept-on industry-wise. I thought that was a good reason for a bonus edition, don’t you?
“(Microsoft is) significantly expanding Bing to reach new audiences with Bing Chat Enterprise, delivering AI-powered chat for work, and rolling out today in Preview – which means that more than 160 million people already have access. Second, to help commercial customers plan, we’re sharing that Microsoft 365 Copilot will be priced at $30 per user, per month.”
“Dave Portnoy is many things: a blogger, a podcaster, a media mogul, and the boorish entertainment personality at the helm of Barstool Sports. But over the past decade—and particularly the past five years—he’s also become easily the most influential pizza critic in the country.”
“All this attention (for Barbenheimer) naturally doubled as perfect free advertising for the two films’ distributors (both of which, incidentally, are part of conglomerates that also own massive traditional media companies), adding to an already-unavoidable avalanche of commercial advertising, especially in Barbie’s case.”
“The funniest part of living in Northern Virginia is constantly seeing metro ads that are exclusively targeted at like ~4 procurement officers at the Pentagon.”
“Google on Wednesday is starting a new pilot program where some employees will be restricted to internet-free desktop PCs, CNBC has learned. The company originally selected more than 2,500 employees to participate, but after receiving feedback, the company revised the pilot to allow employees to opt out, as well as opening it up to volunteers. The company will disable internet access on the select desktops, with the exception of internal web-based tools and Google-owned websites like Google Drive and Gmail. Some workers who need the internet to do their job will get exceptions.”
“As TikTok tightens its policies related to disordered eating, it is cracking down on a popular weight-loss solution. Several creators have noted that the app has removed videos that promote drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro, which are approved for use by people with type 2 diabetes.”
“X Corp. is cutting ad prices as it tries to woo brands back to the Elon Musk-owned platform. The social network formerly known as Twitter is offering new incentives on certain ad formats in the U.S. and U.K. and warning brands that they will lose their verified status unless they reach certain spending thresholds.”
“Amazon expects generative AI to jolt its middle-aged Alexa voice assistant to new life. Why it matters: The giant online seller sees the AI boom as a chance to dust off the more than half a billion devices that have Alexa built in and give them fresh relevance as delivery channels for the equivalent of a voice-enabled ChatGPT — and more.”
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Recommended: The Wham documentary as a case study of the pop megastar ecosystem.
“When the LA and NY ad agencies under the same holding company meet up IRL.”
Digital Meme Strategist🍪 on Instagram: “Aight last set before the weekend. I already read the books so I’m still not sure if I’ll watch Barbie since I know how it’ll end.”
July 21, 2023
TwitterXSesame Street, two perspectives:
“Live look at Meta trying to figure out how to copy/paste it.”
“The letter X will be holding a press conference later today.”
